


Like Honey to the Bee

by lululawrence



Series: Honey Series [5]
Category: BBC Radio 1 RPF, One Direction (Band)
Genre: 2013, Canon Compliant, Confusion, Drunkenness, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Honey, Humor, M/M, No Smut, Pining, Recreational Drug Use, Sexual Tension, harry just got high on nick's weed, it's a party at nick's yeah okay, it's off screen though, kind of, mostly anyway, nick's trying to figure it out ya know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-23
Updated: 2019-07-23
Packaged: 2020-07-12 03:27:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19939450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lululawrence/pseuds/lululawrence
Summary: Nick didn’t even remember knocking, but suddenly the door he also didn’t realise he was leaning on opened and he started falling inside Louis and Harry’s flat.“Fuck,” Nick blurted as he tried to right himself. He was caught by Louis, which was great because he was exactly who he wanted to see and he didn’t really fancy dropping a massive jar of honey on his doorstep.“Nicholas?” Louis asked.Nick couldn’t help it. Hearing Louis call him by his full name made him shiver. He usually hated it, but there was something magical about Louis Tomlinson that made the usual negative association suddenly become an incredibly positive one.“I brought you honey,” Nick blurted as he handed Louis the jar.“I can see that,” Louis said, sounding confused. “Thanks?”“Of course! It’s what friends do, yeah?”Or the one where Nick has been trying to find a way to get past the banter stage with Louis for ages, and honey might be just what he needs to finally do so.





	Like Honey to the Bee

**Author's Note:**

> Woohoo! this is the last Wordplay fic and therefore the last (at least for now) honey fic as well! In case you missed the previous four weeks for me, every week of Wordplay I wrote a different fic using that week's prompt. They were all based off of a tweet that reads, "when i feel bad about my social skills i remind myself how one time rachmaninoff decided he was gonna be pals with stravinsky (who'd casually mentioned he liked honey) so he showed up at his house in the middle of the night with an enormous jar of honey and no explanation." I might continue the series later, but as of now this is it!
> 
> This is part of a Wordplay prompt challenge for the prompt "eminent". To read the amazing fics that were written by the others on this prompt, [click here](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/eminent), and to see all fics written as part of the challenge (including years 1 and 2), [click here](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/wordplay_fic_challenge/works). You can also find the masterpost for this year’s challenge [here](https://wordplayfics.tumblr.com/post/185709101043/wordplay-2019-every-week-for-five-weeks-a-prompt).
> 
> Massive thank yous go to [Nicola](https://missytearex.tumblr.com) and [Chelle](https://aslowmotionaccident.tumblr.com) for their incredible beta and brit pick skills! They're so wonderful to work with and I very much appreciate them. All remaining mistakes are mine and mine alone!
> 
> The title comes from the CLASSIC song by Billie Piper (I can't believe I just typed that sentence, I'm laughing so hard at myself, but it was a bop I suppose lol) Honey to the Bee. Yes, Billie Piper like Rose from Doctor Who. If you didn't realize she had a singing career before acting, please look up her music videos because lemme tell ya, my husband and I had a good 45 minutes of enjoyment when we discovered this fact back in 2011.
> 
> This is a work of fiction, I have no rights or actual insight to the characters of those depicted within this fic, please don't share with anyone associated with the people in this fic, etc etc etc. Please also do not repost or translate this fic without my express permission. Thank you and I hope you enjoy!

Nick was completely and entirely pissed, which was exactly his intention. Wasn’t that the point of most of his parties?

This party was different than most, though. Nick was already well on his way to drunk when Harry showed up with Louis in tow. Nick couldn’t just turn the man away at his doorstep. 

Not that he’d ever want to do that to Louis anyway, but Nick wasn’t  _ prepared _ for him to be there. Nick needed a warning for these kinds of things. He’d only been pining after Louis for… how long? Nick couldn’t even remember at this point. He didn’t think he could count the pining as having started back when they were on the X Factor. He’d thought Louis was fit then, but hadn’t paid them much attention. He and Harry had quickly hit it off as friends early last year, though, and once he met Louis and verbally sparred with him once or twice he’d fallen quickly. 

The issue was that he didn’t know what Louis thought about the whole thing. Nick had come to think of their banter as flirting, but Louis being Louis, he also could be making fun of Nick. How was he meant to tell the difference? He couldn’t read Louis, he had too good a mask in place. 

Nick pouted at his drink. He really wanted Louis to be flirting with him. Maybe he needed to give him an olive branch of sorts. Make the first move of official friendship, as it were. If the banter continued at that point, then he would know for sure that it wasn’t malicious at the very least. He could continue pretending with more confidence that Louis was flirting back with him then.

Now he just needed to figure out what that olive branch would be.

Just then Louis’ voice drifted across the room as it lifted above the music playing.

“...Like honey! Isn’t that a thing? I mean, who doesn’t like honey? Of course he would too!”

Others continued talking and Louis - beautiful, young, too fit for his own fucking good Louis - laughed and nodded and gestured with his hands at whatever was being said. 

It didn’t matter at this point. Well. It kind of mattered that those other gorgeous people in Nick’s flat had all of Louis’ attention when that was all Nick had desired ever since Louis showed up three hours ago, but that wasn’t the most important issue at the moment.

Nick needed to get to the corner shop that stayed open late on the weekend to get honey for Louis immediately. He needed to give it to him so Louis knew Nick wanted to be friends at the very least so they could move on.

Stumbling towards the door, Nick ran into Harry.

“Grimmy!” Harry cheered before draping his arms over Nick’s shoulders in a very warm, very limp approximation of a hug. “I love you, Grim. You throw the best parties. That weed was sick, thanks for sharing.”

Nick pulled back, confused. “I didn’t share my weed? Did someone get into my stash?”

Harry nodded, smiling widely with his eyes half closed. “Alexa said you wouldn’t mind. You don’t mind, do you, Grim?”

The smell of Nick's good weed on Harry made him want a hit or two himself, but he had priorities. He needed to get honey for Louis.

“Course not,” Nick said, patting Harry on the cheek before heading back towards his flat door. He dug through the coats and jackets that had just been piled on his coat rack before he finally just took Fiona’s and shrugged it on. She wouldn’t mind, he wouldn’t be gone long anyway.

Stepping outside, Nick walked in a hurry towards the shop and groaned when he got there. It was later than he realised and it was already closed. 

Circling around, searching for a clue, Nick saw a 24-hour Tesco. He usually did his shopping on his way home from the studio, so he’d forgotten that new Tesco had gone in. 

He hurried over and rushed in before being overwhelmed with different honey varieties. There was clover honey and lavender honey and honey with the honeycomb in the jar too. What did Louis like best? Wasn’t there just normal honey?

Nick studied each jar as closely as he could before finally just deciding that the most expensive had to be the best honey available. He grabbed it and paid before making his way back to his flat. 

It had started raining a little, but that wasn’t surprising. It was London, after all, and he should have known better than to leave the house without an umbrella. 

Once he got back, he walked in and immediately noticed there were far fewer shoes and coats at the door. The music had gone quieter too.

“Hello?” he called out before turning the corner into his living room.

Pixie and Fiona were asleep on the sofas and at first Nick thought the rest of the flat was empty, but soon enough Nick saw George come out of the kitchen.

“Hey, where’d you get off to? Is that honey?” George swayed a little as he leaned forward to look at what Nick had in his hand.

Doing his best to hide it away from George’s prying eyes, Nick said, “Yes, how very eminent of you. Did Harry and Louis leave then?”

Scrunching up his face, George laughed. “Mate, I don’t think you used that word right. Eminemt… eninent? That one. Don’t think you got it right.”

Flapping his hand about, Nick was getting impatient. “Whatever. Did Louis go home?”

“Oh, right. Yeah. Harry got sick all down his front, the messy lad.”

Scrunching up his nose, Nick couldn’t help asking. “Did he get it on my carpet?”

George shrugged. “I’m gonna get in your bed, yeah? Yeah. You coming?”

Looking back down at the jar of honey he was holding, Nick knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep until he’d gotten the honey to Louis, even if it meant going out in the rain again. “No, I’ve got to get this to… someone.”

George nodded like that made sense and walked towards Nick’s room. 

Turning back to the door, Nick walked right back out again and headed towards Harry and Louis’ flat.

*~~***~~*

Nick needed to start planning better. He hadn’t considered that the tube was already near enough to closing that he wouldn’t be able to catch a train to his end destination, so he had to call an Uber. It took ages for them to get to him, but it was still cheaper than an Addison Lee, so he would take it. He finally arrived at their posh flats, but Fiona’s jacket had started to dry and feel far too small. He should have switched it out for a different, dry layer, but too late for that now.

Nick had wondered if he’d be sober by now, but apparently the amount he’d drunk earlier was enough to keep him going for longer than he’d anticipated. How much of Pixie’s special punch had he had? And what exactly was in it? Nick wasn’t sure he wanted that particular answer, actually.

Nick didn’t even remember knocking, but suddenly the door he also didn’t realise he was leaning on opened and he started falling inside Louis and Harry’s flat.

“Fuck,” Nick blurted as he tried to right himself. He was caught by Louis, which was great because he was exactly who he wanted to see and he didn’t really fancy dropping a massive jar of honey on his doorstep.

“Nicholas?” Louis asked.

Nick couldn’t help it. Hearing Louis call him by his full name made him shiver. He usually hated it, but there was something magical about Louis Tomlinson that made the usual negative association suddenly become an incredibly positive one.

“I brought you honey,” Nick blurted as he handed Louis the jar. 

“I can see that,” Louis said, sounding confused. “Thanks?”

“Of course! It’s what friends do, yeah?” Nick started chuckling for some inexplicable reason. Maybe he was even more drunk than he realised. “Hazza didn’t get sick all over you, did he?”

“Nah, the vom wasn’t that bad. Just smelly, really.” Louis smiled softly, and Nick couldn’t tell if it was geared towards him for asking or because he was fond of Harry. Probably the second, but Nick liked to think it was the first. “Did you really leave your own party to bring me honey?”

“And to buy it,” Nick said, but his stomach was starting to churn. He needed to head back home. He didn’t want to be the second person sick in front of Louis tonight. “Not that big a deal. Most of the people there tonight already have keys to my flat and I think they have parties there without me when I’m out of town, so it wasn’t anything new, really.”

Louis snorted. “Charming.”

Nick shrugged. “I don’t mind. I like that my friends are able to use my space if they want it.” His stomach rolled again, and Nick placed a hand over it in an attempt to calm down. He also couldn’t stop the ridiculous yawn that surprised him. “I’m gonna go. Enjoy the honey.”

Turning away, he walked to the lift. When he got inside, Louis was still standing at the door, watching Nick leave, his brows furrowed.

*~~***~~*

Nick woke suddenly to someone pounding on his door. Why would they be doing that at the ungodly hour of… 1:40 pm. Oh. It was much later than he realised.

He stood up and it seemed that being sick once he was home helped him avoid the worst effects of a hangover, so that was good at least. What was he wearing, though?

Looking down at himself, it looked like he was wearing boxers and a shirt he’d stolen from Henry’s last party. He’d forgotten he had taken that. He maybe shouldn’t have slept in it, considering it was worth at least a good four-hundred quid, but at least it looked good still.

The pounding started up again, and Nick remembered why he’d gotten up in the first place.

It looked like the three who had stayed over had vacated at some point before Nick woke up, which was good. He wouldn’t want them getting the same rude awakening he was right now. Who even was trying to knock down his door at the moment?

“I’m coming! Fuck,” Nick called out as he padded towards the door. Whoever it was would just have to deal with him in his boxers because with the way they’re acting they don’t deserve him looking any better anyway.

He immediately regretted that thought process when he pulled open the door and saw Louis.

“Louis?”

Louis nodded and tried to peek around Nick. “Can I come in?”

“Oh, right. Yeah.” Nick pulled back and opened the door, so Louis could come in. Being sure to close the door behind him firmly, Nick turned and saw Louis peeking around the corner into his living room. “Did you forget something last night?”

“No, I was just checking to see if you’d had any overnight guests who were still here.”

“Oh. No. Why are you here, though?” Nick groans and rubs his eyes. He’s obviously not fully awake yet. “Shit, that wasn’t what I meant. I just wasn’t sure what would make you come and try to knock down my door.”

Louis turned to look at Nick again, and this time his eyes dragged slowly up Nick’s mostly bare legs, his torso that was covered by a fairly sheer top, all the way to his likely very messy hair and glasses. Nick felt like he was on fire with the way Louis studied him so intently. 

He wasn’t misreading the signs now, right? Louis was definitely checking him out which  _ had  _ to be a good sign. Or Nick hoped so, at least. 

“Why’d you bring me honey last night, Nicholas?” Louis asked as he slowly walked towards Nick.

Actually, it almost looked like he was about to pounce on Nick. While he was very much into that idea, he also wanted to know what the fuck Louis was talking about, and in his confusion he found himself backing up until he hit the wall.

“I’m sorry, why I brought you what?”

Louis was close enough to touch now, and he reached out, dragging his finger through some of Nick’s chest hair before pressing himself firmly and fully against Nick’s body. “You brought me honey and didn’t explain why,” Louis said softly, right into Nick’s ear. 

He then nipped at it gently and Nick thought his knees would give out, but thankfully they didn’t. As it was, he was having a hard time thinking at the moment. The more he tried, though, the more he was flustered. He did vaguely remember going to Louis and Harry’s flat last night, but why? To give him  _ honey? _

Without ever giving them permission to, Nick found that his hands were on Louis’ waist. He squeezed them a little, just to see if he felt just as soft and yet firm as he looked in those shirtless photos they sometimes took.

Bloody hell. He has Louis Tomlinson leaning against him, nosing at his neck, asking for answers as Nick is just happy to touch his waist? How did he become this twenty-nine-year-old mess?

“Why’d you bring me honey, Nick?” Louis asked before biting down on Nick’s collarbone.

That sent a zing of electricity down to his fairly neglected dick, and he knew that very soon Louis would be able to know exactly how much he was affecting Nick. If he didn’t already.

Suddenly, everything from the night before came back to him. “Fuck,” he muttered. 

Louis continued nipping, sucking, and licking as he pushed the shirt to the side so he could reach more of Nick’s shoulder. He never knew his shoulder could be an erogenous zone, but then again maybe it was just more of Louis’ magical powers.

“I just didn’t know if we were flirting or not,” Nick said, sounding fairly close to panting. “I wanted to make sure you didn’t hate me and show you I thought of you as a friend.”

“So you decided honey was the way to go?” Louis stopped his ministrations to look at Nick in the eye, arching his brow. “Why the fuck did you think honey was the way to my heart?”

Nick shook his head while also gesturing to the two of them now. “I don’t know! You mentioned something about everyone liking honey, so I thought it was a good idea!” he argued. “Besides, it got us this far. I can’t say I regret my decisions as much as I thought I would.”

Louis started laughing so hard he had to lean his forehead against Nick’s shoulder as his shoulders bounced. Nick sighed, but couldn’t complain too much. Louis was still very much pressed against him, so he wrapped his arms around him to pull him in closer.

“It’s really not that funny. I was so desperate for you, I was literally ready to do almost anything.”

“Was?” Louis asked, looking up once more with a smirk. “Are you not still desperate for me?”

Rolling his eyes, Nick said, “I feel like I’ve given you enough damning information at this point. I’m not really willing to give you anything more without some compensation.”

Louis hummed before lifting himself up and kissing Nick firmly on the mouth. 

It wasn’t dirty, not like Nick was used to these days. The only time recently he’d had any action was after a night out on the pull, and this was  _ so much better. _

Louis’ mouth was firm and yet still pliable as his arms slowly made their way around Nick’s neck. He could feel Louis’ fingers weaving themselves into his hair, and he tried to slide down the wall just enough to give them both a better angle. 

As soon as he did, Louis rolled his hips and the fire that had gone down to a simmer was immediately burning hot again.

“Oh God,” Nick murmured as he pulled Louis’ hips against him once again. “Please tell me I’m not misinterpreting this.”

“I don’t see how you could be,” Louis said before pressing in for another kiss. “Take me to your room, Grimshaw. I have plans for you today.”

Trying to make his way backwards so he wouldn’t have to stop kissing Louis, Nick bumped into only one corner. As they shed their clothes as quickly as possible, Nick really couldn’t help but think his drunk self hadn’t done so badly for him after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I hope you liked it. If you did, please consider leaving a kudos and a nice comment! I'd be especially appreciative if you also gave my [fic post](https://lululawrence.tumblr.com/post/186494572458/like-honey-to-the-bee-by-lululawrence-nick) a little reblog to spread the word :D


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